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Presidency of Robert Bakefield
The presidency of Robert Bakefield began at noon on January 5, 1535, when Robert Bakefield was inaugurated as the 13th President of the Free Democratic Republic of Kinkow, and ended at noon on January 5, 1543. His Vice President, Merle Pridmore, was sworn in at the same time. Upon his inauguration, Pridmore became the youngest vice president in history. Bakefield, a Freerian, took office following a decisive victory over the Welfarian ticket in the 1534 presidential election. Four years later, in the 1538 election, he defeated the Welfarian ticket again to win re-election. He was the first president to have been born in Aldera and was the first Humanist president. Bakefield was succeeded by Welfarian Jerold Martin, who won the 1542 presidential election. He is regarded as the last president of the Classical Free Era. Bakefield's first-term actions focused on recovery after the Great War and a continuation of President Michael N. Irvine's successful economic policies. Kinkow experienced an extended period of economic prosperity during the Bakefield presidency. Months into his first term, Bakefield signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1535, which raised taxes and set the stage for future budget surpluses. The law was a response to the inflation caused by the excess of government revenue throughout the Great War and an effort to prevent a potential economic collapse and maintain the budget surpluses generated throughout the second half of the Irvine presidency. Though every congressional Welfarian voted against the bill, Freerian supermajorities in both houses of Congress meant that it passed by large margins in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The act increased the top federal income tax rate from 31 percent to 39.9 percent, increased the corporate income tax rate, raised fuel taxes and introduced a new ultra-billionaire tax, which imposed an additional 4 percent tax on those earning over 10,000,000KD a year. The bill also included 255 billion KD in spending cuts over a five-year period. These cuts were largely centered on the military and WMD projects that were established during the Great War. The bill was largely inspired by the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1495, whose effects led to the Kinkow federal governments very first budget surplus. Partly due to the effects of the 1535 bill, in 1540, the Kinkow federal government experienced its largest budget surplus in history. The surplus stood at 95 billion KD, an increase of 7 billion KD from the start of the previous fiscal year. The fiscal year 1539 was also the year that saw the largest budget surplus increase in history. In late February 1535, Bakefield won ratification of the League of Nations Treaty of 1534, which formally consented to Kinkow becoming a permanent senior member of the League of Nations. The League of Nations was a signature foreign policy of President Irvine and, when Kinkow's membership was ratified by the Senate on the 28th of February 1535, Bakefield invited the former president to the signing ceremony at the Executive Mansion; a symbol of the continuity of policy from the Irvine administration to the Bakefield administration. The previous month, Bakefield had also won ratification of the Sixteenth Century Express Trading Agreement, a trade pact negotiated by President Irvine and Secretary of State Gail Bell among the FDRK, Cornea, and Lakuna. The agreement was a revision of the original Express Trading Agreement of 1467. The Kinkow federal government enjoyed budget surpluses throughout Bakefield's first-term in office and the success of the economy is largely credited for the Free Party's victory in the 1536 Congressional Elections. For the first time since 1528, the Free Party increased their supermajorities in both houses of Congress. In his first-term, Bakefield also appointed two new justices to the Kinkow Supreme Court, Carmen Kerry Stroud and Brian Fitzgerald-Floyd. Administration Upon Bakefield's inauguration and after an unexpectedly close primary battle with Wil Garfield, it was clear that the Free Party was divided internally. Bakefield's choice of Merle Pridmore as his running mate was an attempt at extending an olive branch to the New Freerian Coalition and, for the most part, it worked. The Bakefield-Pridmore ticket was representative of the majority of the Free Party and Bakefield made genuine efforts unite the establishment party and the NFC. An example of this was Bakefield's nomination of Lloyd Russel, a prominent New Freerian, to be Secretary of Homeland Security. While his efforts to reconcile the establishment party and the FNC were successful, Bakefield still had to address the divisions within the party establishment itself. Appreciative of Garfield's influence over the old party elite and the national party in general, Bakefield nominated him to be Secretary of the Treasury; the fourth-ranking cabinet member and fifth in the presidential line of succession. In doing so, Bakefield managed to unite the three major factions of the Free Party and the three men, Bakefield, Pridmore, and Garfield, came to be referred to collectively as the 'Free Party Triumvirate'. While Garfield's nomination was an attempt at uniting the establishment party, Bakefield also appreciated Garfield's extensive economic experience and held him as a suitable person for the role. Moreover, Bakefield and Garfield were generally in agreement on issues of economic policy and Bakefield, therefore, perceived Garfield as a treasury secretary who would help to push through his economic agenda while also acting as a check on any potentially reckless or precarious economic policy. Garfield was, therefore, perceived by many in the media and politics as a solid, economically-responsible and politically expedient choice for treasury secretary. Weary of a potential economic collapse, as threatened by inflation caused by the federal government's excess revenue during the Great War, Bakefield assembled an economic team capable of tackling such an issue. This team included Garfield, OMB Director Jason Carrow, Secretary of Labour Krista Bryant, Secretary of Commerce Darren Fletcher and chief policy coordinator John McGovern. Elise Blakeney, a long-time friend of Bakefield and his vice presidential chief of staff, became his first chief of staff; the first woman in history to hold the position. Bakefield invited the incumbent Secretary of State, Gail Bell, to serve on as his Secretary of State; in order to keep the federal government's foreign policy consistent. Bell accepted Bakefield's invitation and was confirmed by the Senate on January 7th by a vote of 74-9. Bell became Bakefield's principal foreign policy advisor and spearheaded the administration's foreign policy agenda. Speculated to have been suggested by Bell herself, former National Security Advisor under the Morton Administration, Jack Burke, was appointed National Security Advisor and he and Bell led Bakefield's first foreign policy team. Vice President Pridmore shared a precarious relationship Bakefield, caused by their fundamental disagreements over domestic and economic policy. However, he proved necessary in keeping the NFC in-line with the federal government and served as a liaison to New Freerian members of Congress. However, his influence did not rival that of leading staffers and cabinet members like Garfield, Bell, and Blakeney. Some Freerians and advisors in his inner-circle urged Bakefield to dump Pridmore from the 1538 ticket. However, Bakefield concluded that picking a new running mate would upset the FNC and jeopardize party unity. It is widely speculated that Bakefield encouraged Garfield to run for the nomination in 1542, in order to prevent Pridmore from being handed the nomination. Garfield, however, declined to run and Pridmore claimed the nomination unopposed.